Sweet Summertime…

I can’t believe how great the weather has been this year; some of our fruits seem to be ripening early and it looks like a bumper year for honey from our busy bees.

Dripping with honey…

Whilst we’ve had our bees at Hen Corner since August 2011, this will be our third honey harvest and is so far looking like the best ever! In 2012 we collected 25lb of honey and first prize for ‘Best Honey in London; we were thrilled with that as most other London Beekeepers were only taking an average of 5lb off each hive. Last year, if you remember, was very wet meaning that the bees couldn’t get really busy on the nectar forage until July; 15lb was our harvest in 2013, and that was between two colonies. But this year, I’ve got almost 60 super frames loaded with ripe sealed honey. If you look at the picture, you can see that when the honey is ready, after the bees have reduced the water content of the gathered nectar by over 50%, they seal it with wax preserving it indefinitely. Did you know that they found perfectly good honey stored in the pyramids of Egypt? Each of these super frames, like the one that I’m holding, can contain approximately 3lbs of honey – that’s 6 jars full! I’ve got my new honey jars at the ready and will be harvesting the liquid gold at the beginning of September, this gives the bees a few more weeks to gather nectar from the late flowering herbs which adds a lovely botanical taste to the finished honey.

Keeping Cool…

With this warm weather, some of the classic orchard fruits of autumn are ripening now and, in a sunny conservatory, it doesn’t take long for fruit to go past their best. Recently, I prepared and poached a selection of fruit (plums, apples & pears) with plans of making a crumble for dessert, but a hot crumble, even if served with ice cream, isn’t always the dessert of choice after alfresco dining or a BBQ. So in the fridge the compote sat. Then, after seeing aRiver Cottage Food Tube film by Tom Hunt – The Natural Cook, I decided to try my hand at a fruity cocktail. Into the blender I put handfuls of ice, a cupful of compote and a nice large glug of white rum and I was jolly pleased with the results – An Orchard Daiquiri!

More than Honey: Sara will be looking at the role of bees in so much of the food we produce in the UK, she will be looking at changes in farming and bee keeping over the years and the challenges and benefit of keeping bees today.Who is in the hive?: Sara will explain the structure of a honey bee colony, looking at the nest, the castes, the life-cycle, and roles of each bee.The Bee Keeping Year: Sara will outline the seasonal tasks & responsibilities of keeping bees today including suggestions as to how those interested can find out and experience more.
Read more at http://www.countrylivingfair.com/Spring/Content/Spring-Garden/4_10/#2Lq7bkl3oHGxTz3q.99

Coming up at the Corner…

This year we have planned courses right throughout 2014 giving everyone the opportunity for ‘A little bit of country life in London’. Throughout the next couple of months we will have three types of courses available: Urban Hens, keeping chickens in London, Family Feathers and Fun! and Pick and Pickle, an introduction to preserving.